Media’s ‘Lab Leak’ Denial Darling Is Actually Ex-Chinese Communist Advisor.

Deborah Seligsohn – an American academic frequently cited by Western media outlets to debunk the COVID-19 “lab leak” theory – has extensive ties to the Chinese Communist Party, including delivering lectures at the regime’s Central Party School and accepting fellowships from state-run universities.

When cited, mainstream media outlets routinely fail to disclose Seligsohn’s deep ties to Beijing, which call into question her ostensible status as a neutral arbiter of COVID-19’s origins. Currently an Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department at Villanova University, Seligsohn was formerly in charge of science and health issues at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing during the SARS epidemic in the early 2000s.

Since her job in the U.S. State Department, Seligsohn has lectured and participated in fellowships at institutions led by the Chinese Communist Party. She addressed the Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party – the “exclusive training ground for the elite apparatchiks groomed to govern China” – in December of 2011. She also spoke at the regime-sponsored Shanghai World Expo in 2010.

Seligsohn also served as a research fellow at the state-run Nanjing University before leveraging her credentials to contribute to a host of mainstream media outlets including NPR, Foreign Policy, Associated Press, and more.

In a Foreign Policy op-ed titled “Demands for a Lab Leak Investigation Are a Dangerous Distraction,” Seligsohn posits there “is no actual evidence for the lab leak allegation” despite the theory counting support from scientists and government officials including former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Chief Dr. Robert Redfield and former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe. Seligsohn’s op-ed was then utilized by Chinese state-run media outlet China Global Television Network (CGTN), amplifying her words in its article “Expert: Demands For Lab Leak Investigation Are Dangerous Distraction.”

“Although virologists have said over and again that there is no actual evidence for the lab leak allegation of the coronavirus, some people in the U.S. just won’t let it go. The demands for a lab leak investigation are a dangerous distraction, warned Deborah Seligsohn, an assistant professor of political science at Villanova University, in an article published recently on the website Foreign Policy,” CGTN wrote in a summary of Seligsohn’s article.

Seligsohn has peddled similar sentiments in outlets including the Associated Press and NPR, both of which failed to include her Chinese Communist Party ties.

In addition to dismissing the lab leak theory, she has also defended scientific collaboration with the Chinese Communist Party, arguing that “joint US-China research on bat coronaviruses is going to be more important after this pandemic, not less” in the Financial Times.

Seligsohn has participated in exclusive interviews with Chinese state-run media outlets decrying officials who trace COVID-19 to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and defending National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded collaboration with Chinese Communist Party-run labs.

U.S. Republicans claim the virus causing COVID-19 escaped from a Wuhan lab. Assistant Professor Deborah Seligsohn of @VillanovaU says such conspiracy theories are very damaging. #covid #coronavirus @DebSeligsohn pic.twitter.com/Id9rffa4e1

— CGTN America (@cgtnamerica) August 24, 2021

She joins the ranks of more and more former U.S. government employees and so-called “experts” who have quietly been aiding the Chinese Communist Party for years.

https://thenationalpulse.com/exclusive/lab-leak-denier-is-ccp-advisor-and-fellow/

https://thenationalpulse.com/exclusive/lab-leak-denier-is-ccp-advisor-and-fellow/

Marine Battalion Commander Fired For Blasting Senior Military Leaders For Failures in Afghanistan that Resulted in 13 US Servicemen Dying

Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller

A Marine Battalion Commander was fired on Friday for taking a blowtorch to the woke military leadership for their failures in Afghanistan that resulted in 13 US servicemen dying.

Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller, a 17-year veteran, risked his career and pension when he posted a scathing rebuke of the senior military leaders who failed US servicemen serving in Afghanistan.

Joe Biden’s incompetence and corruption led to the death of 13 US servicemen and 15 more were critically wounded in a blast by a suicide bomber in Kabul on Thursday.

“I want to say this very strongly. I have been fighting for 17 years. I am willing to throw it all away to say to my senior leaders: I demand accountability,” said Scheller.

“I’m not saying we’ve got to be in Afghanistan forever. But I am saying, did any of you throw your rank on the table and say, ‘Hey, it’s a bad idea to evacuate Bagram Airfield, a strategic airbase, before we evacuate everyone’? Did anyone do that? And when you didn’t think to do that, did anyone raise their hand and say, ‘We completely messed this up’?” Scheller added.

“I thought through, if I post this video, what might happen to me — especially if the video picks up traction, if I have the courage to post it,” he said. “But I think what you believe in can only be defined by what you’re willing to risk. If I’m willing to risk my current battalion seat, my retirement, my family’s stability to say some of the things I want to say, I think it gives me some moral high ground to demand the same honesty, integrity, and accountability from my senior leaders.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/08/marine-battalion-commander-fired-blasting-senior-military-leaders-failures-afghanistan-resulted-13-us-servicemen-dying-video/

Two South Florida Lawyers and Former Chief Operating Officer Sentenced for Roles in Massive 1 Global Capital Investment Scheme

Miami, Florida – Two south Florida securities lawyers and the former Chief Operating Officer of 1 Global Capital LLC (“1 Global”) were sentenced for their roles in a sprawling fraud scheme that affected more than 3,600 investors in 42 states.

Andrew Dale Ledbetter, 79, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, pled guilty to a single count information, charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371 (Case No. 20-CR-60103), and was sentenced today to 60 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman. Ledbetter was also ordered to pay over $148,976,248 million in restitution to the victims of the scheme.

Steven Allen Schwartz, 76, of Delray Beach, Florida, pled guilty to a single count information, charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371 (Case No. 20-CR-60003), and on July 9, 2021, U.S. District Court Judge Roy K. Altman sentenced Schwartz to a term of imprisonment of 24 months. Schwartz was also ordered to pay over $36 million in restitution to the victims of the scheme.

Jan Douglas Atlas, 76, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, pled guilty to a single count information, charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371 (Case No. 19-CR-60258), and on August 20, 2021, U.S. District Court Judge Roy K. Altman sentenced Atlas to a term of imprisonment of 8 months. Atlas was also ordered to pay over $29 million in restitution to the victims of the scheme.

According to court documents, 1 Global was a commercial lending business based in Hallandale Beach, Florida, that made the equivalent of “pay day” loans to small businesses at high interest rates, termed merchant cash advance loans (“MCAs”). Schwartz was a director and consultant at 1 Global, and also held out as a Chief Operating Officer in the company’s marketing materials. Ledbetter was an attorney licensed in the State of Florida who had an of counsel position at Law Firm #1 and acted in a fundraising capacity at 1 Global beginning in or around 2015. Atlas was a partner at Law Firm #1 and acted as outside counsel for 1 Global.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/two-south-florida-lawyers-and-former-chief-operating-officer-sentenced-roles-massive-1

Former low-income housing executive sentenced to prison for embezzling nearly $7 million

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/pr/former-low-income-housing-executive-sentenced-prison-embezzling-nearly-7-million

Former Cisco Executive Sentenced To 36 Months In Prison For Fraud Scheme And Filing False Tax Returns

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/former-cisco-executive-sentenced-36-months-prison-fraud-scheme-and-filing-false-tax

FBI Agent who investigated sex crimes against children charged with sex crimes against children

An FBI agent who investigated sex crimes against children has been arrested and charged with multiple sex crimes against children across several states, according to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies said Supervisory Special Agent David Harris was tasked with investigating crimes against children,

including child pornography. But in February of this year, he was accused of exposing himself to a 14-year-old girl in a “lewd and lascivious manner,” while on vacation in St. George Island

The investigation began in Franklin County but because of Harris’ role in the FBI, his status as a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, and the locations of the witnesses, victim(s), and suspect the Department of Justice and the Office of Inspector General joined the case.

“In the course of this investigation, evidence was obtained that led to other felony crimes committed by Harris of a sexual nature with minors and adults in the States of Louisiana and Texas, five jurisdictions and three states in all,” deputies wrote. “Records were obtained from Harris’ issued government electronic devices finding conversation excerpts from Harris claiming his sexual preference to underage females and admitting to his exploits (including the St George Island incident).”

Harris, 51, is now in jail in Louisiana and “faces a string of criminal charges — including indecency with a child, crimes against nature and sexual battery,” deputies wrote.

Harris was arrested earlier this summer in Ascension Parish and is being held without bond. Harris also has outstanding arrests warrants pending from East Baton Rouge and Orleans Parish. He also has an outstanding arrest warrant out of Tyler, Texas. Investigators said evidence in Texas suggested that crimes go back for several years.

Franklin County deputies added that Harris has been fired by the FBI.

https://www.wfla.com/news/fbi-agent-army-reserves-col-charged-with-sex-crimes-against-children/

What is the ‘Shadow Docket’ the US Supreme Court Uses to Fast-Forward Through Cases?

The Biden administration was handed two stinging defeats this week by lightning-fast US Supreme Court rulings on the eviction moratorium and the “wait in Mexico” immigration policy. Now, one of the court’s justices is speaking out about the mechanism behind such quick and increasingly consequential rulings: the shadow docket.

“I can’t say never decide a shadow-docket thing,” Associate Justice Stephen Breyer told the New York Times on Friday. “Not ‘never.’ But be careful. And I’ve said that in print. I’ll probably say it more.”

According to the American Bar Association, the term “shadow docket” was only coined in 2015, but as a practice goes back to the creation of the court in 1789, when the US Constitution was adopted. Essentially, the shadow docket is a mechanism by which the court can hand down decisions quickly, without going through the process of hearing oral arguments, receiving amici curiae filings, or having to write out lengthy philosophical tracts explaining the jurisprudence underpinning their decision.

According to the Bar, the court only sparsely used the power before the 21st century, reserving it for “typically unremarkable scenarios” such as denying uncontroversial petitions for certiorari or emergency relief applications that clearly weren’t emergencies, or to grant parties more time to file briefs. The rare and exceptional cases that made it through were those that proved the applicant would suffer “irreparable harm” if their request wasn’t immediately granted.

Between 2001 and 2017, the court only granted eight such applications, according to a count by The Atlantic, but after Donald Trump assumed the presidency in 2017, the pace accelerated rapidly, with 41 applications accepted during his four-year tenure.

Moreover, the cases began to assume greater and greater importance, addressing contentious topics in American political discourse, such as the US-Mexico border wall and federal executions.

In the second half of 2020 alone, shadow docket orders allowed the federal government to execute six people, vacating stays and injunctions to clear the way for their executions as the Trump administration rushed to revive the practice in its final months in power for the first time in 17 years.

In February 2021, the House Judiciary Committee launched a probe into the spike in shadow docket cases, holding a hearing at which legal experts brought lawmakers up to speed on the practice.

The hearing around broad support among both Republicans and Democrats for reforming the way the judiciary functions - a power the legislature holds but which, according to Slate, it has often been reluctant to wield.

A major problem is that while the nation’s high court is supposed to guide lower courts with their jurisprudence, shadow docket rulings rarely supply adequate fodder for judges to interpret their own cases with. This problem arose recently in the US District Court for the District of Columbia when earlier this month, District Judge Dabney Friedrich found herself unable to interpret the Supreme Court’s June 29 ruling on the federal eviction moratorium because she didn’t know what the justices’ thinking was behind it.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court again issued a shadow docket ruling on the moratorium, striking it down with an eight-page ruling less than a week after it was appealed to the court.

The same process was used just two days earlier in a ruling forcing the Biden administration to reverse course and reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocol, better known as the “remain in Mexico” rule, which the Department of Homeland Security formally abolished in June. The ruling had just 101 words and fit on a single sheet of paper.

Congress has the power to force the court to hear certain cases, and can also regulate its conduct in some capacity. According to Slate, the problem with the shadow docket isn’t that it exists, but that the Supreme Court’s six-judge conservative majority has decided to stop following the rules about only using the shadow docket to avoid irreparable harm. Congress could force the court to follow those rules once again.

However, the likelihood of federal lawmakers taking on such a fight seems slim when Democrats cannot even take action against the filibuster, a Senate rule with even less staying power than the shadow docket and which can be erased outright if the Democrats had the willpower.

https://sputniknews.com/us/202108271083735964-what-is-the-shadow-docket-the-us-supreme-court-uses-to-fast-forward-through-cases/

Gone without a trace: UK’s Afghan embassy Twitter account with 100k+ followers abruptly DELETED as British evacuation ends

The official Twitter account for the British Embassy in Afghanistan has been deleted without explanation, with the page suddenly disappearing just as UK forces wrap up chaotic evacuation efforts in Kabul.

The embassy’s Twitter handle, created in 2013 and boasting more than 109,000 followers, appears to have been deactivated sometime on Friday, leaving observers online baffled as the government has yet to offer any reasoning for the decision.

The official website for the embassy notes that operations at its Kabul mission are “temporarily suspended in response to the deterioration in the security situation” in Afghanistan, though it’s unclear why the Twitter page was deactivated, having continued to operate even after Taliban fighters overran Kabul earlier this month.

While an archived version of the embassy site from August 12 shows the mission’s social media accounts displayed on the page, they have now been replaced with different links. The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) did not immediately respond to RT’s request for comment.

Netizens offered theories as to why the page went dark, one suggesting it was done to “quickly scrub data” on any Afghans who may have collaborated with the British government during its 20-year presence in the country. Another argued it was a “security measure.”

The embassy was recently embroiled in a security scare after a journalist with the Times discovered documents in the Kabul diplomatic quarter that identified a number of Afghan staffers at the facility, including their contact information. While an FCDO spokesperson maintained that “every effort was made to destroy sensitive material,” some documents survived intact. The Foreign Affairs Select Committee will launch an inquiry into the apparent oversight.

https://www.rt.com/uk/533310-uk-embassy-twitter-deleted/

“JOE BIDEN SURRENDERED TO TALIBAN TERRORISTS” – Regent University Dean and Former US Congresswoman, Michele Bachmann, on Biden’s “Inexplicable Surrender”

American patriot, former US Representative from Minnesota and current Dean at Regent University, Michele Bachmann, shared her thoughts on the collapse of Afghanistan with The Gateway Pundit.

This video was created yesterday after the indefensible slaughter of US servicemen in Kabul. Michele graciously shared this with us for publication.

Dean Bachmann initially created the below video for the upcoming event she is planning at Regent University scheduled for September 9th, where she’s invited former US Attorney General John Ashcraft, former New York City Police Chief Bernie Kerik, and others, to discuss the fall of Afghanistan.

But with the events yesterday in Kabul, Dean Bachmann has given us permission to release it today.

Dean Bachmann provides the following perspectives:

Islamic terrorists planned the September 11, 2001 attack from the caves of Afghanistan. In October 2001, America bombed that nation and stayed for 20 years tehreafter to ensure no safe haven for terrorists would be reestablished in Afghanistan.

The US went from fighting the Taliban to giving this brutal enemy an $85 billion state of the art state of the art military curteosy of the United States’ taxpayer in the worst military withdrawl in memory. After 20 years, thousands of American lives lost, and trillions of dollars spent, it is difficult for me to say these words, “Joe Biden surrendered to Taliban terrorists”.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/08/joe-biden-surrendered-taliban-terrorists-regent-university-dean-former-us-congresswoman-michele-bachmann-bidens-inexplicable-surrender/

All Hail Your Supreme Leader: Active Duty and Retired Navy Members Are Being Told They Cannot “Disrespect” Biden Over Afghanistan Debacle

Communications from top leadership at the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) shows them instructing active duty and retired service members that they are forbidden from criticizing Joe Biden for his utter incompetence that led to the crisis in Afghanistan.

In an email that was uncovered by the Daily Wire, the Naval Intelligence Chief of staff, Captain Scott Chesbrough, gave current and former members of the Navy a reminder to follow the uniform code that prohibits them from disrespecting senior government leadership, especially if it comes to feeble Ol’-Joe.

Under the same policy, Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and Department of Defense Directive 1344.10, service members are also unable to perform partisan political activity or distribute any related materials.

An ONI inside source for The Daily Wire said that these policies were essentially non-existent while Trump was in office, explaining how he had heard former officers repeatedly bad mouthing their commander in chief.

The email was sent on August 23rd and its directives have not been updated since the vile terrorist attack at the Kabul Airport that killed 13 US Troops.

An excerpt from the email reads:

“Given the heightened political and social atmosphere surrounding Afghanistan, it is important to remind our uniformed personnel (active duty and reservists on temporary active duty) and military retirees of their responsibilities and obligations under Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and Department of Defense Directive 1344.10.

While it is vital to protect the constitutional right of freedom of expression for these groups, consistent with mission accomplishment, national security, and good order and discipline, it’s important to remember certain limitations. Namely, uniformed personnel and military retirees are prohibited from disrespecting senior government leadership (e.g. the President, Vice President, Congress, Secretary of Defense, Service Secretaries, etc.).”

Further along in the Captain’s email, he clarifies that the directive also applies to ONI “civilians,” who he specifically instructs to keep their criticism of the President at a minimum.

He even referred to criticism of Biden, or other corrupt officials in his regime, as “dangerous.”

The email continues:

“Even for civilians, you are reminded of the danger that your public comments will/could be attributed to ONI or the Department of Defense. While you are entitled to your opinion and to share your opinion amongst those you know and trust, being too vocal in criticism of, say, the President or members of the military and civilian leadership may reflect poorly on ONI. It is important to share your opinions, if you choose to do so, in a professional manner that does not call into question your employment, the Department of Defense, or the federal government as a whole.”

The Captain even shamelessly defends the fraudulent Biden regime’s handling of the debacle in Afghanistan, telling the service members that their blood, sweat and tears they – and their loved ones – put in over the past 20 years to fight the Taliban, wasn’t a waste of time.

“After Kabul fell to the Taliban last week, the scenes of chaos and desperation have been hard for all Americans to watch, especially for those of us in the national security establishment, as well as those who served selflessly in Afghanistan over the last 20 years.

Watching the Taliban sweep back into power after two decades of investment can be a bitter pill to swallow”

A bitter pill to swallow indeed, thanks to Joe Biden.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/08/hail-supreme-leader-active-duty-retired-navy-members-told-cannot-disrespect-biden-afghanistan-debacle/